Character

The character line (the cue) is the name of who speaks, set in from the left margin above the speech, in capitals. It can carry an extension in brackets that says where the voice comes from: (V.O.) for a voice over, (O.S.) for someone speaking off screen.

NORA
Anyone here?

BRAM (O.S.)
Down here.

Writing one in Calmly Script

A character line is started with the keyboard, not guessed from what you type:

• TabTab on an empty line of action turns it into a character line.
• Enter↩ at the end of a speech starts the next character line, because in a screenplay a speech is usually followed by someone answering.
• Format › Character, or Ctrl+3⌘3, makes the line you are on a character line.

The name turns to capitals as you type it, so you can type nora and get NORA. A line you have already written turns to capitals too when you make it a character line: Nora becomes NORA. A name already in capitals but for a letter or two, such as McKAY, keeps its spelling, and the @ that says so is written for you. If you move on to another element straight away (pressing TabTab again, say), the line gets its own case back. Then Enter↩ starts the speech under it. If Enter has offered a character you do not want, Enter↩ again on the empty line turns it into action. If you made it with TabTab and change your mind, BackspaceBackspace on the empty line turns it back into action too.

Names you have already used in the script are offered as you type: after the first letter, the rest of the name appears in grey, and TabTab or →→ accepts it. Enter↩ does not; it keeps what you typed. See Autocomplete.

Below, a cue typed in lower case turns to capitals, an extension is accepted from the grey suggestion, a name used earlier is offered after one letter, and a name with a lower-case letter keeps it thanks to the @ in front (more on that further down).

Extensions

An extension goes in brackets after the name. Type the opening bracket and Calmly Script offers the usual ones in grey: (V.O.), (O.S.), (O.C.), (CONT'D) and (OFF). Type a letter or two to pick one, and TabTab writes it with its closing bracket.

Anything in brackets after the name is an extension, not only those. The capitals stop at the bracket: the words inside it are left as you type them, so a direction such as HANS (on the radio) keeps its lower case, on screen and on the printed page. Write (V.O.) and the other usual extensions in capitals, as they are written in screenplays; the suggestions already are.

(MORE) and (CONT’D) at a page break

When a speech is split between two pages, Calmly Script marks it the way a screenplay does: (MORE) under the part at the foot of the page, and the name again at the top of the next page with (CONT'D) after it. You do not type either; they are on the page only, not in your file. In a screenplay written in another language they are that language’s words (see Writing in other languages).

That is the only place the app adds (CONT'D). If you want it on a cue because the same character speaks again after a line of action, type it.

Names with lower-case letters

A name such as McKAY has a lower-case letter, and in a Fountain file a line that is not all capitals is not a character. An @ in front of the name makes it one whatever its case, and it also stops Calmly Script turning the name to capitals as you type it:

@McKAY
Just me.

The @ stays on the line, dimmed, and is not printed. When the name is offered as a suggestion later in the script, accepting it writes the @ too.

The @ keeps the spelling in the editor, in the file and on the printed page, where the cue prints as McKAY, as the example shows.

How it prints

The name prints in capitals, set in from the left margin, with a blank line above it and the speech right under it. It prints as it reads on screen: the name in capitals, an extension as you typed it, and a name forced with @ exactly as written. The (CONT'D) the app adds at a page break is in capitals, like the (MORE).